AmericanMuscle.com - Dyno Wars

For years, Muscle Mustangs & Fast Fords magazine has brought you some of the sickest shootouts. Though most of our shootouts are track-based, occasionally we break from the norm to bring you something different.

For our latest adventure, Dyno Wars, MM&FF teamed up with www.AmericanMuscle.com to showcase some of the craziest high-horsepower, yet street-legal and street/track-driven combinations from all over the country in a four-part series—all over the country, because we plan on hitting the road to bring Dyno Wars to various locations throughout 2012. The first stop was our Snap-on Tech Center at MM&FF headquarters in Tampa, where we utilized our Dynojet 224XLC chassis dyno for the competition.

The concept is simple—the cars must be street-legal and the one with the most rear-wheel horsepower wins. Cars have to be registered and insured, on ZR speed-rated or competition tires, and have a driveshaft loop. Beyond this, any Ford powerplant with any power adder or combination of power adders was allowed, and any fuel was legal.

Once the cars were strapped down, competitors had 30 minutes to do whatever they wanted to make the most power their cars were capable of. Run order was picked out of a hat. This produced some unexpected drama, as one of the cars was still being worked on as it was being strapped to the dyno!

Amazingly, the competition was close—all the cars were in the same ball park, each making what we'd consider huge power. There were a few minor issues as participants searched for power and made careful (or not) tuning decisions, but there were no catastrophic failures and no one went home unhappy. The winner even got a plaque and AmericanMuscle gift card courtesy of www.AmericanMuscle.com. And everyone made it on our Facebook page and in the MM&FF videos, which you can check out at www.musclemustangfastfords.com.

Do you have what it takes to win Dyno Wars? If so, contact pete.epple@sorc.com and keep an eye out for the next event—it may be in a town near you!

Place: 5
James Hensch • '12 Mustang GT

The '11-'12 Mustang GTs are proof positive that efficiency goes a long way. James Hensch brought his Lava Red '12 GT, and the tech sheet read mostly "stock." James took the car to Kesatie Motorsports in Sarasota, Florida, to have a ProCharger D1-SC centrifugal supercharger installed. When the crew at Kesatie caught wind of our shootout, James was brought on board and the car was prepped for the dyno.

Aside from the supercharger, Kesatie installed a full exhaust system, including Dynatech headers and X-style mid-pipe, and Magnaflow mufflers. The stock clutch was ditched in favor of a Spec Super Twin twin-disc setup, and a Snow Performance water/methanol kit.

James' drew the first slot, so the least modified car would be the one to set the tone. Matt Kesatie finished the tuning at 2 a.m. the morning of the shootout, and the spark plugs still had to be regapped, which they did as we were strapping the car to our Dynojet.

With the work finished, we made the first pull. A conservative tune produced 668 rwhp and 573 lb-ft of torque with the air intake and filter completely removed. Matt reinstalled it for the next run, and horsepower dropped to 645 rwhp and 561 lb-ft. For the last run, Matt added 6 degrees of timing, and removed the air intake and filter. He was nervous as he put the new 5.0 on what he thought was the edge. He was thrilled with the 735 rwhp and 582 lb-ft, but he was also glad the rods stayed in place. Although James' car took the bottom spot for the day, it had the least amount of modification, and it made the lowest boost of all the cars—735 rwhp is very impressive!

Ford fans know any GT500 is capable of making huge power. These Mustangs have pushed the limits of what we once considered big street power to new levels, and the numbers get really big once the stock supercharger is ditched for a larger displacement, more efficient blower.

Justin Starkey is the owner of VMP Tuning, and also the brains behind the new upgraded TVS superchargers VMP sells. Justin's 14,000-mile GT500 showed up sporting one of his superchargers. We already knew what it was capable of—we covered the installation of the cams and were there for all the dyno testing.

The low-mile 5.4L has been upgraded with a set of Comp Cams Stage 2 cams, and a VMP TVS 2300 supercharger. Dynatech headers sit where the stock tubes once were, and the exhaust is completed with a Dynatech X-style mid-pipe and stock mufflers. All of the tuning has been done by Justin using SCT software.

Justin drove his GT500 115 miles to our facility, and after allowing his Stang to cool off, it was ready to go. In fact, he chose to make only two pulls and use the rest of his 30 minutes to let the car cool. The first run netted him 733 rwhp and 732 lb-ft of torque. While the engine was cooling, Justin made a few small timing changes in the tune based on the data logs and the air/fuel reading. In the closing minutes of his allotted time, the GT500 laid down 742 rwhp and 735 lb-ft taking the Fourth spot.

Brian Filsinger brought out the most unique Pony of the event. His supercharged Mustang is not only a Snake, it's an ultra-rare R model. The SN-95's original 351 has been bored and stroked to 427 ci, and a Vortech YS centrifugal supercharger has been added to seriously increase its horsepower potential. Before you start ripping these pages apart, know that Brian bought the car in its modified state.

When Brian's turn came, he was extremely relaxed. "The car is going to make what it's going to make," he told us. "I'm just here to have a fun day."

Since your author was running the dyno, I had firsthand experience with all the cars, and when I got in Brian's to back it on the dyno, I didn't want to get out. The Recaro seats were super comfortable, and the car felt very powerful. It didn't feel much different than any other SN-95 I had ever been in, but knowing it was a Cobra R kept me glued in the seat. But you want the facts.

After bringing the fluids up to temperature, we made the first pull. The car pulled hard through the rpm band all the way to the 6,500-rpm redline. Once the wheels stopped, the screen read 696 rwhp and 736 lb-ft of torque. Brian and I both knew there was more in it, as belt slip kept the boost low. On the next run, the blown small-block came up harder, which indicated the warmer belt was gripping the pulleys better than before, and the numbers showed what we heard—it laid down 755 rwhp and 750 lb-ft of torque. After a short cool down period, we tried to beat that number, but it wasn't meant to be. Still, a real Cobra R that makes 755 rwhp is extremely impressive.

When Yousif Al Humaidi confirmed that he would be attending our shootout, we were very excited! A Four-Valve with a 91mm turbo has the potential to make serious steam. The white New Edge was one of the first cars to arrive, and it gave us a chance to look it over. As soon as we opened the hood, it was apparent there was a lot of time and money invested in the build—it was impressive to say the least.

The combination was designed by Yousif. "The whole idea was to build the ultimate street car," explains Yousif. "I wanted a lot of power without sacrificing too much of the driveability." The engine was built by Al Papitto of Boss 330 Racing in Vero Beach, Florida. Its 301 ci of displacement, topped with ported Four-Valve castings from Champion Racing Heads and a Sullivan intake manifold, is a solid base for big power. Add a 91mm turbo to stuff it full of air and its hard not to make power. Unfortunately, mechanical issues limited its power.

On the dyno, the car had spark issues, which caused a misfire as it came into the meat of the rpm curve. When the turbo would finally spool, the engine coughed, and we weren't able to rev past 5,500 rpm. Though the car still made 816 rwhp, the redline is at 8,000 rpm—much higher than the 5,500 we turned on the dyno. After numerous attempts and numerous aborted runs, the most boost we saw was 19.30 psi; according to Yousif, the turbo will make 40 psi! Imagine how much power it would have made with 40 psi at 8,000 rpm.

Julio Don came into our dyno contest a major unknown—sort of. His trusty LX has proven itself in True Street competition with a best e.t. of 9.21 at 149 mph, but all of the tuning had been done at the track.

He knew the power was there, but how would he stack up? Although Julio's GT is a track star, it had been four or five years since the car had spun the rollers, and he had no clue how much power it would lay down— especially with a Powerglide transmission.

Julio is the owner of Alky Controls, a Tampa-based water/methanol-injection company. Julio's GT has been an R&D tool, as well as rolling billboard for the company. The combination is a 348ci short-block, topped with Holley Systemax aluminum cylinder heads. Boost comes from a single 88mm Precision turbo, and an Alky Control water/methanol kit keeping inlet temperatures low and power up. A two-speed Powerglide built by Trans-R-Us Plus in Palm Harbor, Florida, backs the engine, with a TCI converter setting it all into motion. Hoosier drag radials meet the road.

Once strapped to the Dynojet, Julio set the tune in the FAST FXI fuel injection system to more conservative settings and the boost controller to 16 psi. Once the Powerglide was in Second gear, we laid into the throttle. Less than 2 seconds later the run was complete. After the rollers came to rest, we were rewarded with 760 rwhp and 620 lb-ft of torque—not bad for a super-rich 9.6:1 air/fuel ratio. The second run netted similar numbers, but after some tweaks to lean out the A/F, a jump from 16 psi to 24, and a little time to cool, Julio's GT laid down 901 rwhp and 730 lb-ft of torque on its final run, taking the top spot in the process.